I have two basses. One with completely smooth flatwound strings. It had roundwounds when I bought it.
I just bought a second bass. The seller said it had flatwounds too. And according to the specs they are labelled as flatwounds. But they do still feel a bit like roundwounds when I touch them are they are also brighter than my - completely - smooth flatwounds.
I play a PJ bass. I use the P-pickup 95% of the time and I almost always have the tone rolled off.
It’s funny how mileage varies here. I greatly prefer a bright tone, like steel rounds with tone wide open. Really depends on the genre and personal preference.
I started like this - cause you sound cleaner without all the brightness shining on your mistakes, but as @Wombat-metal mentions, and even in recordings, it gets kinda old fast and treble becomes important. Check out Josh’s new gear video on bass tone in the extras to see that tone is generally up on P and J in the “real world” - unless you are Motown-ing. Then it’s low low all the way.
it isn’t me, i play music man and spector, which are both known for a brighter more in your face sound. but there is a huge segment of bassists (maybe even the majority) that like that hollow woody p-bass thump.
Yes, I’d set my bass up with a tone that sounded good and then I’d play to a backing track and it sounded like crap! It took me quite a bit of playing around to figure out how to get a tone that sounded good in a mix. That’s what I like about my pbass, not a lot of things required to get a good tone, but my Sire m7 however… Once I find something I like I feel like gluing the knobs there
Same with guitar, I used to favour the neck pup and hate the bridge but once I started playing to backing tracks, it was the reverse.
Let me offer a prediction… I think you will go through phases where different tones will be your favorites. It’s all good in the sense of exploring tonal options and perhaps going through corresponding phases in music preference.
For example, I much prefer nickel roundwounds to other strings, but for the past few months, I liked them with the treble (on my active basses) almost completely rolled off. No ulterior motive, I just like how they sound that way
I concur. I usually play my pbass with the tone rolled all the way off and at most about 1/4 turn up from that. Since ive been playing my new 6 string that’s a lot brighter sounding and i’ve really been enjoying that, i’ve been playing my pbass with the tone most of the way up.
That’s what I like about my pbass, not a lot of things required to get a good tone, but my Sire m7 however… Once I find something I like I feel like gluing the knobs there 